WHAT irony.....Jack Straw (Mr.Extraordinary Rendition himself) enacted the Freedom of Information Act which has sunk HMS House of Commons....now known as the House of convuluted Confessions..."we did it because the rules said that we could rip-off the taxpayer"....the beggars banquet just finished with a big burp.

Politicians will never be embarrassed by revelations over their expense claims. If they are honourable people, in the first case, they would not have claimed. It is more likely the ordinary people who would be embarrased by the conduct of their MPs.

British politicians are clearly underpaid. There is therefore the incentive to find alternative sources of income within or without the system. It is a recipe for corruption.

How should MPs remuneration be set? Certainly pay levels should be comparable to the private sector if government is to attract talent. The failure of this government is down to the quality of the people in it. The fact that we pay an inordinately high level of tax and receive sub standard services represents very poor value for money.

It is time to redesign MPs remuneration. It is time to impose high levels of transparency to MPs financial conduct, public and where it intersects with their duties, private.

It is time to replace the current generation of leaders with real ones. Who here is happy with the current class Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat. With real management talent, after all managing a country is like managing a business but representing all constituents (not all to the same degree), we will have less fraudulent, corrupt behaviour, better value for money, and even in the longer run, lower taxes. There is a price, however. We may not like the people who step up to the plate. But if they deliver the deliverables, I don't want to make friends with my MP, only that they get the job done.

As for the current lot, an example needs to be made of them. There may be no fair way to deal with them all, but a deterrent signal needs to be sent to future generations of public servants. It is for the good of the nation not just today, but for the future, for our children and their children.

The global common conception would always depict most non-western nations’ lawmakers as fund manipulators, they are likely to short-change tax-payers’ money under all sorts of pretexts. Well, the westerners do not seem to be any better or exceptional. One would least expect the respectable MPs from Britain to fall into such category.

“All the crows in the world are of the same feather – black.”
What could anyone say? Please “Have your say”.
(Tan Boon Tee)

Traveller in T....most politicians have outside directorships like Kenneth Clarke MP......by the dozen.
Lobbyists also offer indirect bribes to get thru legislation that is never disclosed.
For nearly 4 months of the year PARLIAMENT is a closed.
Most (80%) UK legislation is carried out in Brussels so Westminster has nothing to do most of the time. John Prescott played crockett all day.
British politicians are ordered how to vote by the PM like Tony Blair over the illegal IRAQ war....no discussion.
The other allowances like 10,000 Pounds for "media expenses" bring their salaries to 100,000 Pounds a year including secretarial allowance paid to their wives or children.
The house of commons has nearly 650 members who are no longer trusted by the British people....

It is time for the UK to learn from it's former colony, Singapore. Stop the hypocrisy ; increase the pay of your MPs and Ministers to more realistic levels. After that no more fooling around with dubious claims. Send them to jail if they do.
There was a precedent ; London adopted some of the measures used by Singapore to control city centre traffic. It apparently costs the former Mayor his job but those measures did work, according to friends in London.

Claiming expenses might be paltry compared to where they get their support from.

Some MPs sided with the Tamil Tiger terrorist group of Sri Lanka against the democratic Sri Lankan Government. Currently these terrorists are bold enough to hold massive demonstrations in London. How many terrorists have U.K arrested during the terrorist insurgency lasting for over 25 years? Ordinary people go to jail for much minor offences.

Tamil Tiger terrorists have been fighting to carve out a Tamil country out of Sri Lanka independent of the Singhalese and minority muslims (7%), expecting Indian Tamil help.

I think British MPs should not be lured by the large gatherings and support terrorist organizations can bring. There can be more anti terrorist supporters at home scared of terrorists, prepared to support good politicians.

"Unfortunately, this does bring with it another dilemma; In the absense of any incentives, what's there to attract bright individuals into politics, especially as the MP's salary is an unimpressive 64k/pa. We might end up being stuck with dimwits running the country."

GBP “64k/pa” is a relative number – more so in a global sense, but others have commented on that already …

But ... Can someone be attracted by being paid and given privileges (ie be bought) to think and make politics ‘on our behalf’? No matter how comfortable and cheap solution it may seem, if we believe it can be (is) done to our benefit, we are “dimwits” ourselves.

As touched upon in the article and many comments, any amount of money will eventually seem unimpressive to whomever expects to actually make a living out of politics, especially politics alone… Isn’t it already pathetic, that among their other privileges we accept that politicians, de facto, vote on their own ‘compensations’?

No one is forced to become an active/professional politician in a democracy (though some ‘become’ that aged 17 – SIC!) – a fact, which obviously rather eliminates any later complaints by those who chose it…

Who, exactly, is a desirable “bright individual” then?

@ umghhh

“I am not sure what the solution to the problem (of corrupted dimwits) is - maybe more citizen participation? The political class in majority of countries will fight teeth and nails against that of course. Maybe there are some changes to democracy as we know it that we need to do? I mean the system is broken at least in parts why not fix it? Then again there will be vicious fight against it from powers that be.”

I agree with you … Still, what about the ones truly wanting to serve humanity – why not to use a few noble words since we have them? Isn’t wanting to share with others what we believe is the best in us as individuals THE worthy part of our very own nature?

We are best at sharing at certain ripe stage/period of our life - I believe the ancient Greeks realized and formalized that, already. Indeed, you can only share what you’ve got: experience, knowledge, and socially balanced (ie accepted) achievements in your life.
If the information on the above is readily available for and subject to public scrutiny in the case of each ‘bright individual’ – especially before they enter politics by being voted in - aren’t we getting the most of what we deserve ... and simply have to accept it only gets better very very slow?

Let’s perhaps just strive to make it all more simple, transparent and efficient: politicians (and media), cut out all that insincere and clubby BS, please, so more will actually understand and hopefully join in the progress! No wonder some very capable people seem to prefer sharing by becoming philanthropists instead :-)

The mother of all democracies is now exposed as an absolute shambles....and the British have been brainwashed to believe that the EUROPEAN UNION is to blame for the dire state of this nation....if only we had some German politicians running Britain....they know about dictators and would never repeat the same mistake again.

Britain has to come to terms with itself by looking in the mirror...."not fit for purpose" rings again as we see the House of Commons appear as a ship of fools walking the plank...one by one.
Its a NATIONAL DISGRACE but the Speaker wants to arrest the person who leaked the details to the press. Typical!

Conservative Lord Hailsham declared that Britain was an "elected dictatorship".
Britain has to stop pretending that Britain functions as a normal democracy. The House of Commons members are there for one reason....to stuff their pockets with allowances.
They pursue lucrative careers once out of office like JOHN REID who cashed-in after resigning as HOME SECRETARY. Norman Lamont did the same thing by working for a famous London merchant bank. Its a fiddlers paradise...meanwhile the country watches in horror knowing that nothing will change.

I agree that it seems to be the principal of the scandal that the public seem to find most outrageous. However, if thought of in context, this is not devestating corruption.

Maybe thats not the point, but I do think that there are much more important issues that the public should be interested in and the Government should be focussing on instead of worrying about the political ramifications of John Prescott getting his toilet seat fixed twice in two years!

Also, I'm not entirely convinced that people with Phd's in history and philosophy would be better at handling the economic crisis seeing as that is the qualification that Gordon Brown boasts. Maybe more economists running the country would be beneficial?!

In response to 'Krautonomist':

Britain would not have avoided the financial crisis if we didn't have (as you call them, not me) 'Dimwits' running the country. It is far more complex than that.

And to 'Muggeridge':

Clearly you have never experienced a true dictatorship as you would then know this country is far from being one. There are checks and balances on power, free media and speech, the public can debate whatever the hell it wants and lobby their MPs without getting thrown in jail or 'silenced'.
Also, the American Government is all about grandeur!

Anyway, next week this scandal will have been ousted by a nice, fresh one that is of parallelled irrelevance.

Its quite ironic that the Europhobes who are so often negatively aggressive in all matters and things EU, frequently complaining about its anti democratic and uncontrolled nature, seem to be so quiet about the sleeze and corruption of their own elected representatives on their (English) doorsteps.

It's better they are moving around with their heads covered in shame,in nigeria where I come from such people are celebrated,and no tabloid can have access to such information.
you can imagine how "dead and gone" we are!

The expenses system has been well and truly milked by the honorable members, but not dry. It's in need of reform to be sure, but to make-over a cash cow is a horse of a different colour. A sacred cow is even more difficult to manage ...... but pulling the wool over the public eye is a long standing political sport. Tally-ho!

Politicians should be treated like other professionals; they should be required to take ethics classes as a condition of their privilege of office, and when they violate these ethics, they should forfeit the privilege. I see no reason why a privileged group should be exempt from the rules of decency, respect and trust because they happen to be in a position to make the rules. Unless of course we accept the principle that might makes right.

You have point. We are pretty much stuck with dimwits, and it would seem the politician class is the problem. Personally, I would be a lot happier if we had PhDs in History and Philosophy, and other highly educated individuals running the country as opposed to this politican class that we have to put up with today. Perhaps that is just a pipe dream. But the caveat from my perspective - power corrupts all.

TonyHarrison:

I only vote to keep the BNP/UKIP out of power. Outside of that, it is pretty much a lost cause at the moment. Apart for Gordon Brown and his creepy smile.

wuchugaobie:

Comparing apples with oranges; but I feel your plight. Having been to China, I know that the workers responsible for the constructions spend months on end away from their villages, get paid next to nothing and seem to work 24 hours a day. I guess every story of rapid development has a dark side (Dubai is another example).

Beware of early signs of a deterioration of MPs' ethics.
In Italy we did not do it when we could, and now:
-about one fifth of MPs have direct links with cosa nostra and vote to promote its interests.
-they consider it to be their sacred right to milk taxpayer's money destined to parliamentary allowances as they see fit in ways that make British scandals seem petty indiscretions (e.g. every Italian MP receives more or less 5,000 Euros a month to pay for an assistant of his/her choice. Almost all MPs employ one or more assistants without paying them, or paying them less than the minimum wage, or without paying them social security contributions, or declare that their cousin/spouse/brother is their 'assistant' - either way, they mostly end up cashing in the entire allowance without anyone checking whether they actually employ somebody, whether they stick to labour protection laws, whether their assistants are working for free or for peanuts).
-a worrying percentage of Italian MPs are no longer able to speak (let alone to write) a comprehensible Italian language (mainly thanks to elections with blocked party lists without any primaries or similar devices intended to limit the power of parties' heads to freely choose who will be elected and who will not).
-a current Italian MP (belonging to a self-declared Catholic political party) is on trial because ha was forced to call an ambulance when one of two prostitutes he was entertaining in a hotel room in Rome experienced a cocaine overdose (the MP is currently on trial under the allegation of having procured the cocaine). Thanks to Italian corrupt media, on the days following this scandal, most coverage of the story was devoted to an appeal from a senior member of the same Catholic party to give more money to MPs that live far from Rome in order for them to visit thier spouses more often, thus avoiding 'temptations'. Almost no coverage was devoted to calls for this MP to resign. The partying MP announced nonetheless that he would resign: actually, he just quit his party, but remained in parliament as an independent MP, and the Italian taxpayer still pays his allowance (and 5,000 euros a month for his assistant, too).